Scott's+Interpersonal+Game

=Who Am I= by Scott Crellin

Purpose
The intent of this activity is to promote socialization amongst a group of students while reviewing a concept. It could also be used as a warm-up activity before a lesson or before starting a new unit.

Time Required
This game should take about 10-20 minutes

Number of Participants
At least 10-12 people are needed, but will work best with 20-30. It could be used with quite a few more, but If the goal is to get people to interact with a variety of others, more than 30 is probably counterproductive.

Supplies Needed
The facilitator needs note cards and tape or post-its.

Preparation
Prepare at least one note card or post-it per person who will be playing. The note card should have written on it the name of a concept or a key vocabulary term related to the concept that the students are working on.

Introduction
The facilitator will introduce the activity by telling the students that they have each been given a new name. Their new name is a term or concept related to the present unit of study. Their goal is to figure out what their new name is by asking fellow classmates questions about the card that is attached to their back. They may only ask each other yes or no questions in an effort to deduce what word is on their card. They may only ask one question of each other person in the room, and that person may only ask them one question before they must move on to another person. This will help ensure that there are as many different interactions among individuals as possible. After correctly guessing the word or words that is written on their cards, the participant should take their card off their back and move it to their front to let everyone know they have completed the challenge.

Process

 * As the participants in the game enter the room, attach the cards to their backs, asking them not to talk about what is written there yet.
 * When all are present and ready to begin, share the rules of the game with the participants as well as the concept that is being reviewed (for example, the concept that was being reviewed at the workshop where I experienced this activity was 'Rocks and Minerals').
 * Have the participants begin interrogating each other. The facilitator should circulate about the room to ensure that students are following the rules-asking only yes or no questions and only asking 1 question of a particular person.
 * When the facilitator sees that all of the cards have been moved to the front of the participants, he can signal everyone to return to their seats to debrief.

Debrief

 * What kinds of questions were the most helpful in figuring out your name?
 * What kinds of questions were the least helpful in figuring out your name?
 * Which names were the most difficult to figure out?
 * Why were they difficult?
 * About how many questions, on the average, did it take to figure out a name?

Credits
I participated in a workshop at the Rueben H. Fleet Science Center on teaching science and math through inquiry, and we started a Rocks and Minerals lesson with this activity. The card I happened to get was 'dull' and my partner from my school site was 'cleavage'. It was a fun and engaging way to start, and it got us interacting with a diverse group of teachers from different schools and grade levels.